Showing posts with label Shabbat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shabbat. Show all posts
14 January 2013
17 July 2012
Jews of the World -- UNPLUG!
Great news item about getting "unplugged." Just wanted to share this one:
Company Pays Employees $7,500 to Go on Vacation – But No Texting, Email, Or Phone Calls
Great excerpt from the article:
If only people would realize that we Jews have the gift of the "unplugged vacation" one day out of every week! And our sentiment is the same -- initially it's hard, but in the end, we completely love it! Everyone should try it -- the rewards are very great!
[Posted by Rafi Mollot. To read more by Rafi Mollot, visit http://rafimollot.wordpress.com.]
Company Pays Employees $7,500 to Go on Vacation – But No Texting, Email, Or Phone Calls
Great excerpt from the article:
Some of Lorang’s software engineers that have taken him up on his offer say while it was difficult initially going off the grid, they ended up loving their completely unplugged vacation.
If only people would realize that we Jews have the gift of the "unplugged vacation" one day out of every week! And our sentiment is the same -- initially it's hard, but in the end, we completely love it! Everyone should try it -- the rewards are very great!
[Posted by Rafi Mollot. To read more by Rafi Mollot, visit http://rafimollot.wordpress.com.]
20 May 2012
Sewing challenge no. 4: Tish Bekishe
A tish bekishe is like a long Victorian smoking jacket, worn to the Shabbat table by some Chasidic men. My husband (who does not identify as Chasidic) wanted one partly because a bekishe is machine-washable and a suit isn't: a bekishe is good if your toddler likes to pour soup in your lap.
As Rabbi Triebitz once said (in an entirely different context), there are no non-Chasidim in a foxhole.
Some bekishes are tailored; some aren't. I used a bathrobe pattern, Simplicity 5931, and relied on the fabric to make it look like something you could actually wear to dinner.
The pattern is good for beginners, but runs large. My husband's rav and our neighbor (thanks) graciously smuggled me their bekishes (this was a surprise) so I could study the construction.There is some kabbalistic significance to not making such a garment all-black, but mostly I figured a man who wears a black suit and a black hat every day has enough black in his life already.
I wanted a fabric that would look black (like most other bekishes) until you turned your back on it and made it think you weren't looking. What I found in the right color is pretty stiff; next time I'll use something floppier. And a pattern that will allow for frogs (those Asian knot fastenings), because I. Love. Frogs.
 |
| I'm not sure why it looks ripply and uneven here. It looks ok in real life. |
I put on a remnant of silvery leaf-like trim
16 April 2012
Shabbos out-of-town
This post is for the New Yorkers.
Once, when I was living in a large and bustling Jewish community, I explained to a Shabbos host that I did not intend to stay forever. The conversation moved on to where I was living and what I was doing, and we were both a bit shocked by what a wonderful life I had.
"Why do you want to leave, then?" he asked.
"I miss having a kehilla," I said -- and he agreed that there was no answer to that one.
Here is what a Shabbos is like in a small kehilla (community) where everyone knows everyone else.
My toddler and I arrived in shul; all the women immediately pounced on us, and the little girls took turns clamoring for the privilege of distracting the toddler. The one-man "Announcement Committee" announced after services that we were in town.
It was a Shabbos aufruf, on which everyone throws candy at the groom-to-be. His bride - who is not supposed to see him all this week - was also in shul, to everyone's amusement (as we carefully hid her), because she had to hear Parshas Zachor.
After davening we went to someone's house for the seudah; and then we went to a Shabbos kallah -- where all the women and girls of the community sat in a circle, together with the bride (wearing a plastic tiara) -- and passed round a bag of toys; each woman or girl had to draw out a toy and make a pun on it to give the bride advice, and then there was singing &c.
The teenage girls repaired to their weekly hangout at the house of one of the Torah scholars of the community; a couple of women went back to shul for Mincha, which is followed by a communal shalosh seudos meal (in the ezras nashim, or in the courtyard if the weather is nice), Maariv, and Havdala; and then after Shabbos two of us walked to someone's house to call home for rides, because we live a bit far out - one of us lives three miles through a forest from shul, but that's nothing on the teenagers who walk nine miles from home every Shabbos.
I am not sure how to convey the sense of familial warmth that pervades a small Torah community. If you have never experienced it, it is worth checking out.
(like through Shabbat.com)
(This post comes late because I proofread it while still out-of-town, and set it aside, thinking, "Well, duh, Shabbos everywhere is like that." But I am posting anyway just in case it is not.)
Once, when I was living in a large and bustling Jewish community, I explained to a Shabbos host that I did not intend to stay forever. The conversation moved on to where I was living and what I was doing, and we were both a bit shocked by what a wonderful life I had.
"Why do you want to leave, then?" he asked.
"I miss having a kehilla," I said -- and he agreed that there was no answer to that one.
Here is what a Shabbos is like in a small kehilla (community) where everyone knows everyone else.
My toddler and I arrived in shul; all the women immediately pounced on us, and the little girls took turns clamoring for the privilege of distracting the toddler. The one-man "Announcement Committee" announced after services that we were in town.
It was a Shabbos aufruf, on which everyone throws candy at the groom-to-be. His bride - who is not supposed to see him all this week - was also in shul, to everyone's amusement (as we carefully hid her), because she had to hear Parshas Zachor.
After davening we went to someone's house for the seudah; and then we went to a Shabbos kallah -- where all the women and girls of the community sat in a circle, together with the bride (wearing a plastic tiara) -- and passed round a bag of toys; each woman or girl had to draw out a toy and make a pun on it to give the bride advice, and then there was singing &c.
The teenage girls repaired to their weekly hangout at the house of one of the Torah scholars of the community; a couple of women went back to shul for Mincha, which is followed by a communal shalosh seudos meal (in the ezras nashim, or in the courtyard if the weather is nice), Maariv, and Havdala; and then after Shabbos two of us walked to someone's house to call home for rides, because we live a bit far out - one of us lives three miles through a forest from shul, but that's nothing on the teenagers who walk nine miles from home every Shabbos.
I am not sure how to convey the sense of familial warmth that pervades a small Torah community. If you have never experienced it, it is worth checking out.
(like through Shabbat.com)
(This post comes late because I proofread it while still out-of-town, and set it aside, thinking, "Well, duh, Shabbos everywhere is like that." But I am posting anyway just in case it is not.)
08 December 2011
29 November 2011
More Good Links
This: http://holylandinsights.blogspot.com/
is Rabbi Schwartz's (formerly of Seattle) weekly words of Torah and "Cool Places in Israel of the Week".
There are a lot of good weekly Torah publications out there but his has always been one of my favorites.
A woman named Allison has made a project of explaining basic Torah Judaism via YouTube videos. Here's her explanation of Shabbat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHtM6mDbUzM
is Rabbi Schwartz's (formerly of Seattle) weekly words of Torah and "Cool Places in Israel of the Week".
There are a lot of good weekly Torah publications out there but his has always been one of my favorites.
A woman named Allison has made a project of explaining basic Torah Judaism via YouTube videos. Here's her explanation of Shabbat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHtM6mDbUzM
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)